


ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

AT THE ANNUAL MEETINGS, 

ALBANY, FEBRUARY 12, 1868. 

/ 

By MARSENA rJ PATRICK. 



A.T)DEESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



ANNUAL MEETING 



N. y. STATE AGRICUITURAL SOCIETF 



ALBANY, FEBRUARY 12, 18G8. 



By MARSENA R. PATRICK, Pres't. 



\l 




PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY, 



ALBANY : 



PRINTING HOUSE OF CHARLES VAN BSNTHUYSEN & SONS. 



1868. 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the N. Y. S. A. Society: 

I come before you this evening, in accordance 
with long established usage, to present some of 
the results of my observations in regard to the 
Agricultural interests of the State generally, 
and of its Agricultural Society especially, during 
the time I have been charged with the duties 
of its Presiding Officer. 

CHARACTER OF THE SEASON. 

The year just closed has been one of marked 
peculiarities, and unusual conditions of the 
atmosphere, as recorded in the meteorological 
tables kept in different sections of the State : 
these tables showing, at the same dates, a very 
large amount of rain in one part of the State, 
and a burning atmosphere in another. The 
crops of the East were only with the greatest 
difficulty secured, in consequence of rain, while 
vegetation in the West was dried up, the brick- 
like earth rendered incapable of tillage, and 



Hocks, and herds, and man, himself, were 
suffering for water. Never before, since the 
settlement of Western New York, has mother 
earth been known to hold so little moisture in 
her bosom, as in the last half of the year of 
Grace, 18G7. 

CAUSES. 

Such being the case, it becomes us, as intelli- 
gent Culti viators of the Soil, to inquire into the 
causes of this wide spread calamity that has 
come upon us. Whether it is through any 
agency of man that times and seasons change; 
both seed time and harvest, and that in vast 
districts, the latter rains have not fallen upon 
the dry and thirsty earth, in their appointed 
seasons. 

DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 

Has the wholesale destruction of our Forests 
nothing to do with this sweeping over, and 
beyond us, of the heavy rain clouds? Can 
we continue to sweep away all our growth of 
timber, in every arable district, and even denude 
our rocky hill sides, and mountain tops, without 
incurring the penalty? 

Can we expect to escape the operation of a 
Universal Law, that has produced uniform re- 
sults, in all countries, and in ullages ? Wherever 



this law has been viohited, sooner or later, the 
lands have become desolate and the cities have 
perished. Palestine and Syria, Egypt and Italy, 
and Spain — and even France, have seen their 
most fertile and prosperous regions, turned into 
forsaken wilderness, and their most productive 
lands, into arid, sandy deserts. 

Even the short reign of our boasted Yankee 
Enterprise on the Pacific coast, has dried up 
many of the streams that found their sources 
high up those western slopes. Some of those 
slopes and mountain tops, have already been 
stripped of their leafy covering, and so little 
rain now falls, in certain localities on our west- 
ern coast, that crojDS can scarcely be grown, 
where fifteen, years ago, the earth was fairly 
burdened with the weight of its Harvest. 

The statistics of the Pump Trade, where 
followed up (in States west of our own, especi- 
ally), show a gradual increase in the length of 
tubing, requiring, in central Illinois, an addition 
of 9 feet within the last 10 years ; and in other 
localities, nearly, or quite, as large an increase. 

Why there should be such almost universal 
apathy on this all important subject, I cannot 
understand, when the statistics of the Lumber 



Trade, find of the number of acres brought 
under cultivation from Forests, are laid before 
the people every year. Statistics which show 
us, conclusively, that at present rates of clearing 
up our lands, the next ten years will sweep off 
all the valuable timber of this State, except 
what is found in the Great North Woods, and 
the most of that is of inferior quality. 

Legislation should be invoked, before it be 
too late, to preserve that Forest, at least, and 
thus save central and western New York, from 
the entire change of climate that must follow 
the opening up of the Adirondac mountain 
region, making a pathway for the winds and 
storms, from Labrador and the North East, to 
burst upon us in all their unchecked fury."* 



* As the limits of an Address, on an occasion like the present, will 
not penult an extended discussion upon Forests and Plantations, as 
affecting the nieteoiology of the !>tate, I would refer any person who 
may feel an interest in this subject, to a few works {)ublished in this 
country and accessible to all; through which, if furthei' information 
be desired, acquaintance can be made with foreign authorities upon 
all these interesting questions. 

And first ; let such person take up " Maury's Phj^sical Geography 
of the Sea," for a good general idea of the great wind currents liiat 
prevail upon our continent, and of the agencies through which our 
.springs, rivers, lakes and water-courses are supplied with water 
(Pages 87 & KS and 138- 14G.) 

Then, let .Mahsh's " Man and Nature," be carefully read, especially 
"The Woods," (t'hap. o) for a good, general idea of their inlluences 
— electrical, thermometrical and hygrometrical — upon contiguous 
geographical districts. The whole book is full of instruction on 
these and kindred subjects. 

The " Michigan Board of Agriculture," has commenced a series of 
observations within its own State, and the results already obtained 
are of great practical value. They may be found in its " Ueports," 



CHANGES IN HUSBANDRY. 

In coming back to your Society and its asso- 
ciations, after an interval of almost six years — 
years crowded with great events that might 
well have taken up a century — I could not fail 
of being continually and strongly impressed 
with the changes these last few years have 
made in the system and management of farms 
generally in the State of New^ York. 

True, these changes had begun, with the 
opening of railways throughout the North and 
West, before the war; but war agencies, and 
consequences, have developed results rapid and 
varying as the forms and tints of the revolving 
kaleidoscope. As already noticed, changes have 
come over us from the increasing instability of 
the seasons, as well as from changes in the soil 
itself, by the exhaustion of those elements found 
in the soil of most newly opened countries ; 
changes from the universal use of labor-saving 
machines on the farm, and changes arising from 

for 1865 and 18G6; articles, "Observations on the Meteorology of 
Michigan," and "Appendix" of 1866; also, in "Address of Prof. 
R. 0. Kedzik, of the Mich. State Agricultural College, before the 
Livingston County Agricultural Society, 1807." 

There are, also, exceedingly valuable papers on Trees, Forests and 
Plantations, in the "Report of Department Agriculture for 1864," 
from J. J. TiiOiMAS, and in 1865, from Fredric Starr; while, for a 
very able paper on the "Adirondac, or Great North Woods," read 
WiNSLOw's Report, in " Transactions of New York State Agricul- 
tural Society, for 1865." 



8 

the introduction of the " Factory System" for 
dairies. 

FARM LABORERS, &C. 

Changes, too, there are in the personnel as well 
as the materiel employed in carrying on the ope- 
rations of the f{inn. For he who hires Farm 
Laborers now, can seldom obtain native born 
young Americans — farmer's sons, bred up on their 
father's farms and at home, in all the minutice of 
farming — such as were the " hired men " upon 
our farms in days of 3^ore. Nor is it any less 
difficult, in most districts of the State, to obtain 
a farmer's daughter as the "hired girl," either for 
housework, or dairy. 

To obtain skilled labor, now-a-days, is, in fact, 
one of the greatest difficulties to be contended 
Avith in carrying on a farm. Fortunate, indeed, 
is it for us that so many labor-saving machines 
were introduced before this great want had be- 
come 50 great; and that Cheese Factories, and 
even Butter Factories, are relieving, in some 
degree, the overtaxed wives of our farmers, who, 
are dependent upon foreign help. 

Do not understand, b}^ these remarks, that I do 
not fully comprehend and appreciate our indebt- 
edness for individual and national prosperity to 
fhv strong arms and stout liearts of oin- foreign- 



born population ; but that class of laborers re- 
quire long and patient teaching, before they are 
capable of managing our machines, or handling 
our teams, or of understanding our system of 
farming generally. Yet these men are apt to 
expect the wages of first class American farm 
hands. 

If to these considerations be added the fact, 
that as a general rule, unmarried men of that 
class are unsettled in their habits, roving, and 
without local tics to bind them ; ready to leave 
for trifling causes, or small inducements in the 
way of higher wages ; the question becomes a 
very serious one, indeed, " What are we to do for 
reliable Farm Laborers ? " 

THE COTTAGE SYSTEM. 

The " Cottage System " appears to present the 
most favorable solution to the problem, for both 
the farmer and the laborer, as well as for the best 
interests of society generally. By the erection 
of snug cottages, at convenient positions for at- 
tending to farm work, and the employment of 
married men as permanent farm laborers, not 
only boarding themselves but such other occa- 
sional help as may be required from time to time, 
the farmer's wife is relieved from the burden of 
2 



10 

caring lor a, hoiisei'ul of hired men, and will, in 
all probability, secure, from the wife and daugh- 
ters of the cottager, such female help as may be 
wanted in her own kitchen, or dairy. 

Wherever this system has been introduced, it 
has given the best satisfaction to all parties; 
especially to the laborer, inasmuch as it gives 
him a home — a castle of his own ; making him 
realize that he too is a householder and a citizen. 
His self-respect is increased, his manhood is de- 
veloped, he acts more considerately ; your inte- 
rests and his become more and more identified, 
and your influence in moulding and Americaniz- 
ing the ideas of his growing fiimily is as 2)otent, 
quite, as his own. Hitherto, only the w^ealthier 
classes of our agriculturists have adopted this 
system ; but there seems, now, to be a necessity 
for the adoption of some such system by farmers 
of the middling class and those who own smaller 
farms. 

FAMILY CHANGES. 

The times change, and we change with them. 
Our habits of life and style of living change with 
every decade of years. Only a few of our sons 
and daughters inherit the rural tastes of their 
parents. They tread not in our footsteps, and 
when once thev launch forth from the old home- 



11 

stead, ill the quiet country, they return not again. 
The "Old Folks" are left there alone. But can 
they remain ? 

Look through the small towns and country vil- 
lages throughout the State, and what numbers of 
men you will find, somewhat advanced in years, 
whose whole lives, until very recently, have been 
spent upon their farms, where they had acquired 
a competence, and where they had hoped to en- 
joy a green old age, in the midst of scenes long, 
long familiar to their eyes, and associations and 
memories dear, almost, as life itself. 

But with increasing years and failing health, 
unable longer to endure the toils of the farm 
themselves, and finding none on whom they 
could safely rely to manage for them, many an 
aged couple have been compelled to sell the dear 
old homestead, with its amj)le surroundings, and 
take up with a little village residence, where 
they can live alone, and be free from many bur- 
densome cares, during the closing years of life. 

The " Cottage System," to which I have re- 
ferred, affords but partial relief in cases like 
these, alas, now too common ! 



12 

AVERSION TO MANUAL LABOR. 

For years past, our boys and young men have 
exhi])itecl a growing aversion to honest, manly 
toil, to manual labor, or productive industry of 
any kind. 

In many of our counties, it is becoming a rare 
sight to see a young man, possessed of an ordi- 
nary school education, with perhaps a term or 
two at the village academy, engaging himself in 
any kind of sober, manual labor. 

If he does remain on the farm, in a large ma- 
jority of cases, less of his time is spent behind 
the plow, than in a trotting sulky — more of it 
devoted to training fast nags than to training 
steers ; and farm wagons are less to his taste than 
spider wheels and skeletons. 

Speculation, mining, petroleum, patent rights — 
any thing that demands travel, and produces ex- 
citement, has a fascination for the young man 
that seems irresistable. 

To be in the great busy world, and of it ; to 
talk familiarly with business men, of thousands, 
and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands 
of capital, with which self is, in some way, con- 
nected, has a charm for the young man, who sel- 
dom remembers the vast multitudes that sink to 



13 

ruin while struggling for prizes that only one in 
a thousand can, possibly, obtain. 

The very term " commerce," carries with it a 
kind of spell, and men forget that commerce often 
proves, by its superfluous and extravagant impor- 
tations, the ruin of both individual and national 
prosperity. Cannot young men read this lesson 
from the many wrecks of splendid fortunes, this 
day floating in the city of New York ? 

Commercial pursuits are over-valued, because 
they lie more upon the surface, and are open to 
observation ; but from statistics of only a very 
few years ago, and probably correct now, we 
know, that our annual growth of bread-stuffs, is 
three to four times the aggregate value of all our 
imports and exports combined — that even our 
grass crop, exceeds in valuation our whole out- 
ward and inward movement of foreign com- 
merce. 

But it is not alone the young man of some pe- 
cuniary means, that leaves the farm to engage in 
some doubtful, yet exciting enterprise, that will 
bring wealth without labor ; there is scarcely a 
day that passes, in village or in country, that 
some stout, healthy young man is not met, can- 
vassing for some book, some map or picture ; sell- 



14 

ing some patent clothes-wringer, or clothes-pin — 
a hat-hook, a hat-peg, or a tooth-powder — some- 
thing of which, with his robust health and strong 
frame, he ought to be asha?ned, as beneath the dig- 
nity of an able-bodied man. 

True, the recent war has had some agency in 
producing this state of things ; for young men 
who have spent from two to five years in camps, 
have fallen into habits that are the opposite of 
industrious labor, and very many of our young 
men were with the army, for longer or shorter 
periods. But, admitting the influence of this 
agency to its fullest extent, it will not account 
for the idea, so widely prevalent, that manual la- 
bor is degrading, and that American young men 
should feel above it. 

IS LABOR HONORABLE ? 

Whenever labor ceases to be honorable in the 
eyes of any people, the doom of that nation is 
sealed. 

All the lights of history are shining on the 
ruins of nations that degraded labor, committed 
it to serfs and slaves, then perished from their 
own voluptuousness and effeminacy. Without a 
sturdy yeomanry, cultivating their own lands, no 
nation has been able, lor any long period, to re- 



15 

main free, virtuous and prosperous ; and until this 
cardinal principle, that " labor is honorable," re- 
sumes its sway over the minds of our people, we 
may well tremble for our free institutions. 

It is to this hatred of labor we are to look, in a 
great degree, for the parentage of those crimes 
that make us shudder — a daily list under which 
the press groans. It is one great cause of those 
gigantic frauds ujdou our banks and money insti- 
tutions, for the knavish peculations of govern- 
ment contractors and State officials, for the bri- 
bery of Legislators and the reckless expenditure 
of public money for private purposes, sinking us 
as a people, under heavier debts, and greater bur- 
dens, than are borne by any other nation on the 
face of the earth. 

ITS INFLUENCE UPON A STATE. 

Bear with me while I add a few more words 
on this important subject. 

Whenever we find a country divided up into 
small estates, each and every owner working his 
lands with his own hands, we find a brave, patri- 
otic and free people, enjoying competence and 
domestic comfort with manly dignity. So it was 
in the earlier days of Roman power, when seven 
acres of land was the quantity fixed by law, for 



each cHizen. Aye, and iiiider that hiw, and on a 
seven acre homestead, was reared up that grand, 
old, historic character, a Roman citizen — that 
man hefore whom kings grew pale ; and nations 
trembled, when he left his plow to buckle on his 
sword ! 

Would you look at the reverse of this picture, 
and mark the results of degrading, honest, manly, 
free labor ? You have but to travel a few hundred 
miles south, where the original system of very 
large estates, requiring a numerous tenputry, 
induced a resort to slave labor, and — you know 
the rest. 

Let us, then, as farmers, cultivators of the soil, 
and intelligent citizens of a great nation, bear in 
mind the relations we sustain as such, to the gov- 
ernment under which we live, and the nation of 
which we form a part. 

It is an axiom in political economy, that coun- 
tries are not cultivated in proportion to their fer- 
tility, but in proportion to their liberty;* and to 
this axiom, I may be permitted to add two or 
three other principles of political philosophy. 

(1.) That property in the soil is the natural 
foundation of power, and consequently, of autho- 

• Montci^iuieu, S[iirils of Laws, Book 18, ch. 3. 



17 

rity ; the sovereignty of a state being an insepa- 
rable attribute of property in the soil ; and the 
terms "property" and "dominion" being, accord- 
ing to Lord Bacon, convertible terms.* 

(2.) That agriculture constitutes the basis of 
happiness and prosperity in a state ; being, of 
necessity, the great pursuit of man, and the nurse 
of the human race. 

(3.) That inasmuch as national authority, and 
power, and dominion, are based upon that pursuit 
which gives food to all the human race, agricul- 
ture is, beyond all doubt or questioning, the most 
honorable as it is the most ancient of all profes- 
sions. 

CHANGES OF MARKET. 

I have dwelt so long upon this subject of labor, 
that time will not permit me to speak of the 
changes in the husbandry of our State, growing 
out of the new demands of the market, and the 
introduction of crops different from those raised 
a few years ago, before the sceptre of New York, 
as the great wheat producing State, was trans- 
ferred to the regions farther west ; changes, too, 
arising from the facilities afforded by rails and 



* See Harrington in "Oceana," Lowman in Civ. Gov. Heb., chap. 2, and 
John Adams in "Defense," Letter 29. 



18 

«teani for placing fruits and vegetables of every 
kind, and milk, and eggs, and butter, and cheese, 
and meat, and poultry, and fish, daily, upon the 
tables of the consumers in the great cities, fresh 
from the hands of the producer, who lives far 
back, hundreds of miles it may be, in the coun- 
try. 

CULTIVATION OF SMALL FRUITS. 

Year by year, hundreds and hundreds of acres 
within our State, are added to the area already 
uuder cultivation for supplying the market with 
small fruits — the currant, the raspberry, the 
strawberry, the blackberry, and, to a still greater 
extent, the native American, grape, in almost 
numberless varieties ; grape growing having be- 
come, in fact, the leading interest in several dis- 
tricts of the State, and destined to extend far 
more widely as grape culture becomes more gen- 
erally understood. 

PISCICULTURE. 

Fish breeding, too, though in its infancy among 
us, is attracting the attention of intelligent, en- 
terprising, practical men, with whom success is 
certain, if legislative action can be obtained to 
protect their fish preserves from poachers. 



19 

DAIRY AND SHEEP. 

I need not speak of the great Dairy interest, 
now so thoroughly identified with the agriculture 
and husbandry of this State ; nor of its wool 
growing interest, while our many superb flocks, 
of almost every variety of sheep that can be 
named, challenge the admiration of judges and 
breeders from every sister State. 

THOROUGH-BRED STOCK. 

Still less needful is it to refer to the success of 
our breeders of thorough-bred neat stock. Their 
representatives are pointed to, with pride, in every 
State and territory. Even Old England herself, 
the mother of them all, gracefully accords to 
American Dukes, and Countesses, and Maids, the 
highest honors of the Short-Horn Peerage, and 
welcomes to the stables of royalty, itself, the Dur- 
ham herd from Geneva. 

RINDERPEST. 

In this connection, it gives me pleasure to state 
that the disease among cattle known as '•' Rinder- 
pest," which recently made such fearful ravages 
among the herds of Britain, is believed at j^resent 
to exist, as an epidemic, only in the province of 
South Holland, having entirely disappeared from 
the British Isles, after causing the loss, as offi- 



20 

cially stated, of 335,838 head of cattle, of which 
56,911 were slaughtered by the authorities com- 
missioned to stamp out the disease. 

The weekly return of the Royal Commission, 
for the week ending 14th September last, exhib- 
ited the first clean bill of health, and this being 
followed by others showing entire freedom from 
the disease, an order in council was issued, to 
take effect on the 15th October, modifying pre- 
vious orders relative to the landing of foreign 
cattle. 

No cases of Rinderpest having shown them- 
selves after alDout the 10th of September, an or- 
der in council of the 18th November, revoked all 
restrictions on the importation of cattle from the 
Netherlands, the province of South Holland ex- 
cepted. 

Happily for us, the Rinderpest has never 
crossed the Atlantic, and is entirely unknown on 
this continent. That this immunity from cattle 
plague is largely due to the vigorous measures 
adopted by both the General and State govern- 
ments, there cannot be a doubt ; while tlic aj)- 
pointment of a Commission by the Legislature of 
this State, fully empowered to crush out the dis- 
ease at the instant of its appearance, has had a 



21 

tendency to calm the excited minds of stock 
owners, and allay the fears of persons interested 
in this department of husbandry. 

Here, as in England, frequent false alarms are 
raised, and " Rinderpest " is reported, by the 
press, as prevailing in certain districts. In every 
case, however, when examined by a Commission- 
er, or by a competent surgeon, gastric fever, 
Texas murrain, pleuro-pneumonia, or cerebro- 
spinal meningitis has been identified, and the 
alarm has ceased. 

ABORTION. 

The subject of Abortion among Cows has en- 
gaged much attention from the Executive Com- 
mittee during the year; but as Professor John C. 
Dalton, of the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, to whom the whole investigation was com- 
mitted, is to address you this evening, himself, it 
is not necessary for me to say anything on this 
very important subject. An appropriation will 
be asked of the Legislature to continue the inves- 
tigation so successfully initiated. 

FLAX COTTON. 

The appropriation made by the State for per- 
fecting machinery to cottonize flax, not having 
beeii claimed by any party to whom the Board 



22 

could award it, under the terms of the law, the 
Treasurer of the Society, acting under the direc- 
tion of the Board, has returned the money to the 
treasury of the State of New York. 

TRIAL OF IMPLEMENTS OF TILLAGE AT UTICA. 

There are many of the operations of the State 
Agricultural Society, for the last year, of which 
I do not propose to sj)eak at length, as a detailed 
Report from the Secretary, in behalf the Execu- 
tive Committee, has been to-day presented ; and 
a Report from the Hon. John Stanton Gould, 
Chairman of the Board of Judges on the Trial of 
Plows at Utica, will be ready for publication 
within a few days. 

In regard to the latter, I feel warranted in say- 
ins:; that if the results of the Trial of Harvest 
Implements at Auburn, in 18GG, have been of 
incalculable value to the interests of agriculture 
in all countries, the Trial of Implements of Till- 
age, at Utica, in 1867, if less brilliant in display, 
may prove to be even more useful, in its final 
results, than that of 18G6. 

The call of the Society, through its Executive 
Conmiittee, for " a plow for stubble land, which 
will cut a furrow twelve inches deep, and not less 
than live inches wide, drawn l)y three horses, and 



23 

raising the lowest soil to the surface of the fur- 
row," was deemed, by most persons, an exhibition 
of ignorance on the part of those who put it forth — 
a demand for an implement, involving conditions 
that could not, by any possibility, be combined in 
one and the same plow. 

But the inventive and constructive mind of 
Governor Holbrook, of Vermont, triumphed over 
seeming impracticabilities; and he was enabled, 
from his life-long study of the principles involved 
in turning up and mellowing the soil, to bring 
before us a plow, differing in many respects from 
all other plows, moving forward with comparative 
ease, yet bringing up, from hitherto undisturbed 
depths, new farms, to mix and mingle soils with 
the old. 

For his civic virtues, his statesmanship and 
patriotism in the dark days of our country's his- 
tory, the Green Mountain State conferred the 
highest honors in her gift, on this, her favorite 
son ; but, if I mistake not, this plow will be his 
enduring monument, when all his political honors 
are forgotten. 

To use his own words, from a note to me on a 
kindred subject; "good plowing lies at the found- 
ation of civilized life, and when you sift the whole 



24 

thing down, civilization cannot advance far, in 
other rehitions, beyond the advancement in tillage 
of onr good mother earth. The plow must be the 
foundation of all good tillage " — a sentiment to 
which every true farmer will respond " amen." 

Besides the Holbrook plow, there were other 
plows of great merit exhibited, as well as culti- 
vators, harrows and other implements of tillage, 
full notices of which wdll be found in the forth- 
coming Report. 

EXAMINATION OF MACHINES, IMPLEMENTS, &C. 

In this connection, permit me to make a sug- 
gestion which, though it may not be convenient 
to act upon at present, may afford matter for 
reflection, and elicit plans for action at some 
future meeting. 

To any one who is an observant visitor at our 
State, County or Club Fairs, and Exhibitions of 
Farm Implements proper, as well as machines 
and implements indirectly connected with Agri- 
culture, it is painfully evident, that no proper ex- 
amination can be made of such entries, in the 
limited time given, and under the pressure com- 
mittees must, of necessity, at such times act ; even 
admitting their competency as judges. 

Add to tliisthe fact, that every year very many 



25 

inventions and improvements are patented and 
then lost sight of, for the want of ability, or tact 
on the part of the patentee in bringing them be- 
fore the public, and we are forced to the conclusion, 
that we know very much less than we ought to 
know of the r.al value — the actual merits and 
demerits — of a great many machines and imple- 
ments that have passed through the patent office, 
even though some of them may have received from 
various societies, including our own, first class 
premiums. 

It has occurred to me, that by the employment 
of a suitable person as an expert, to examine and 
report to a committee of practical and scientific 
men,"* on all new, or not thoroughly tested machines 
and implements pertaining to agriculture, (whether 
presented to the Society for examination, or sought 
out by such expert, through agents, manufacturers 
or the patent office), all necessary data might be 
obtained for instituting competitive trials and criti- 
cal examinations under the direction of this com- 
mittee of judges, at little expense to the Society, 
or to competitors. 

Every report of the expert to this committee, 

*The Bureau of Experiment, if you please, recommended by my imme- 
diate predecessor in his address last year. 

4 



2fi 

(after being passed ui^on by the committee and the 
committee's remarks indorsed thereon,) would be 
placed on file in the Secretary's office for refer- 
ence, and by this means, a vast amount of reliable 
information would be gathered up, from year to 
year, and made available to the Society. 

I will not occupy your time by an enumeration 
of the many advantages that might, as it seems to 
me, be derived from the employment of some such 
expert, engineer or machinist; nor of the errors, 
frauds and impositions against which he would 
guard vs, but will leave the subject with the 
Society for future discussion, if it be deemed 
worthy of notice; and it might be well, perhaps, 
for the new Executive Board to bear this sugges- 
tion in mind, while the revision of the premium 
list, (now in the hands of a committee,) is in 
progress. 

FAIR AT BUFFALO 

The 27th Annual Fair of the Society, held in 
the city of Buffalo, notwithstanding some untow- 
ard circumstances and many fears, was a decided 
success, taken as a whole ; and in some of the 
departments the display far exceeded that of any 
former year ; especially was this the case in the 
Departments of Implements and Machinery. 



27 

Probably such a number and variety of ma- 
chines and implements, directly or indirectly con- 
nected with husbandry, and of such great excel- 
lence, were never before brought together in any 
place ; and it was a matter of universal regret, 
that the brevity of the time allotted, rendered it 
absolutely impossible for the judges to give each 
article the thorough examination it should have 
had, that its real merits might be made public. 

Notwithstanding the untiring labors of the So- 
ciety's Engineer, and several of the Ex-Presi- 
dents, many articles were, of necessity, but cur- 
sorily examined. 

Until some such bureau as has been suggested 
be organized, or a special examiner appointed, 
might not the Society's Engineer, acting under the 
special instructions of the Board, take with him a 
short hand clerk, begin his examinations before, 
and continue them after the close of the fair, 
making his report at the next meeting of the 
Executive Board ? * 

As very full accounts of the fair, in all its de- 
partments, have been published, and are on file 
in the archives of the Society, I pass by any fur- 
ther details, that I may say a few words,, before I 
close, upon the general workings of the society. 



28 

SUGflESTIONS AS TO A CHANGE OF THE SOCIETY'S 
POLICY. 

In looking back at our requirements for the 
Fair held at Buffalo in 1857 — a Fair which at 
that time had never been equalled, and but 
rarely since — I have been led to examine, with 
much care, our present system of management, 
and to ask in all sincerity, whether the system 
which worked admirably during the infancy, 
youth and adolescence of the Society, is compe- 
tent to meet the yearly increasing demands of 
this great institution, now in its full maturity, 
and the pride of our State ? 

First of all comes uj) the question, Are the pro- 
visions now made for the shelter and protection 
of property on exhibition, such as to assure 
exhibitors of its safety ? 

2. Are the arrangements annually made for 
the erection of temporary, rough-lumber buil- 
dings, (of necessity frail and unsubstantial,) in 
keeping with the character and dignity of a 
Society representing this great State ? 

o Is the present system, in any true sense, 

economical, judicious or comfortable ; whether 

for the Society, for exhibitors, or for the public ? 

4. With tlie yearly increasing demand for more 

extended lucoiuniodations, will llie cities of our 



29 

St.ate continue to meet our requirements ; labor, 
lumber and material increasing in price, from 
year to year, as well as in the amount re- 
quired ? 

It is not of the past I speak, nor of systems 
that were adapted to the past ; it is of the present 
and of the/w^wrg. The times have changed and 
our people have changed. Those inducements 
which twenty, fifteen, ten years ago, caused the 
citizens of our most desirable localities to put 
forth spirited efforts to secure the Fair, no longer 
exist in more than one, or at most, in two locali- 
ties. To confine the exhibitions under the exist- 
ing system, to these one or two places only, would 
be to localize the Fair, and to neutralize the So- 
ciety's influence. 

In traveling over the State and conversing 
freely with a large number of the most intelli- 
gent friends of the Society, within the last year, 
I find a very general idea prevalent, and gaining 
strength, that by changing the system now pur- 
sued, for one that will give permanent bnildings in 
three, four, or five centers, where the Fairs shall 
be held in rotation^ all the benefits we now derive 
from the present system will be retained, and 
many advantages gained ; such as stability, eco- 



30 

nomv .111(1 the fostering of emulation in the dis- 
tricts where the Fairs are located. 

It may be said, that this subject has already 
been acted upon by the Society. True ; but the 
last time it was before the Society, was twelve 
years ago ; and could any one foresee, twelve 
years ago, what and where we are now ? And 
what was that action ? 

In 1853, a very able Committee, composed of 
eight members, viz.: Elon Comstock, of Rome; 
Charles S. Wainwright, of Rhinebeck ; Antony 
Van Bergen, of Coxsackie ; James McDonald, of 
Salem ; Paris Barber, of Homer ; Thomas B. 
Arden, of Beverly; and Hugh T. Brooks, of Wy- 
oming; was charged with the duty of examining 
the whole subject, and presenting the results, in 
the form of a Report, at the next Annual Meet- 
ing. 

That Report may be found in the Transactions 
of 1853 (though read at the Annual Meeting in 
1854), and every argument then adduced in favor 
of a change, is clothed with still greater power 
n^w. Even Canada, which then gave her voice 
in favor of the migratory system, abandoned it, 
some years ago, for permanent locations. When- 
ever the question was referred to Committees, or 



31 

to County Societies, the vote was for permanent 
locations. 

In 1856, at the Annual Meeting, the subject 
was, for the last time, called up, and the present 
system re-affirmed. 

There are various other modifications demand- 
ed in the working of our Fairs ; in the classifica- 
tion of entries, and closing of the entry books; 
in the attendance and duties of Judges ; in the 
expenses of officers composing the Executive 
Board; in the arrangement of the Library, so 
that it may be made available for reference by 
any farmer desiring information on specialties in 
agriculture ; all, however, so intimately connect- 
ed with, and dependent upon the main question, 
" Shall we continue our present system?" that it 
seems unwise to discuss them until that question 
shall have been decided. 

I have made these suggestions in regard to a 
change of our system, out of respect to what 
appears to me a strong public sentiment, pointing 
unmistakably in that direction ; and I leave it 
with you, gentlemen, to be disposed of as you, in 
your wisdom, may deem best; satisfied that you 
will, in the future as in the past, make it your 



32 

study to promote the great interests represented 
])y this Society. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

It is from this consciousness of the high pur- 
pose by which the Society is animated, and the 
strength of that bond which unites its active 
membership in a common brotherhood, that in 
its service, individual sacrifices are so generously 
made, and the most arduous labors are cheerfully 
given. 

To the gentlemen of the Executive Board, 
with whom I have been so pleasantly associated 
during the past year, I desire to express my 
hearty acknowledgments for the aid and support 
so promptly rendered, at all times ; and especially 
do I desire, gratefully to recognize my obligations 
to the gentlemen in charge of Departments, for 
their thoughtful kindness and delicacy in lifting 
from my shoulders many of the burdens I could 
not well have borne. 

May they find ample reward for their labors, 
year after year, in witnessing the increased pros- 
perity of the cause for which they have so faith- 
fully borne the burden and heat of the day ; and 
when in their turn, they shall stand where 1 have 
stood the last year, may they, too, find in those 



33 

I 

on whom tliey shall lean, not only wise counsel- 
lors and strono- men, l)iit younger brothers, en- 
deared by common toils in the same broad field, 
and by ties that years have rendered strong as 
the ties of blood itself. 

My last, but not least weighty acknowledg- 
ments, are due to the venerable Secretary who 
has been the f\ither of us all — who for twenty 
years, has been the ftiithful Mentor to every 
President, and the strong pillar of his support; 
the wise counsellor of our inexperienced officers, 
and the discreet manager of the affiiirs of the 
Society. To this Society, next to his God, he 
has consecrated the best years of his life, and 
wx owe him a debt we can never fully repay ; 
but, so long as it shall please " Him in Avhose 
hand is the breath of all maikind," to prolong his 
days, may " that good gray head that all men 
know," never ])e missed from its place at our 
Council Board. 

GOV. KING. 

From the active, stirring scenes of the present, 
let our thoughts turn for one lirief moment, to 
"the memory of joys that are past, pleasant, 
but mournful to the soul." 

Since our last gathering here, one noble and 



34 

(lio-nifierl form that was wont to move amono- us 
lias passL'd awav, and tliese Halls whicli knew his 
stop so well, will echo to that step no more, i'or- 
ever. Everv where, that presence, i;ran(l in its 
simplicity, was hailed with gladness, and to this 
Society, that presence was a living benediction, 
or all its friends and patrons, none more truly 
loved this Society, and none have been more truly 
loved, or more deeply monrned. In that quiet 
chnrcli yard by his old homestead, and on that 
spot he had himself sidected long years ago for 
his own resting-place, John A. King slee])s his last 
sleep — Aye, and he sleeps well ! 

"Green be the turf above thee 

Friend of my better days, 
None knew thee but to love thee 
Nor named tliee but U> praise.'' 

Gentlemen of the Society : 

My last official duty remains to be performed — 
a very agreeable one tj me, inasmutdi as it enal)les 
me to express my own gratification that yon have 
been so fortunate as to secure for the Society as 
its official head for 1808, a gentleman whose rural 
tastes and love of practical agriculture have l)ound 
him to us through all the years of an active and 
successful business life in the great city. I have 
the honor to introduce to you, Thonuvs Hall Faile, 
of New York, as the President elect of the New 
York State Agricultural Society. 



J-JBRftRY OF CONGRESS 

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